Anne Klein Dress - 1969

Anne Klein started her own line in 1968, so this dress of hers, from the spring of 1969, is one of the earliest with her label.  Huge black dots on white acetate/rayon crepe make quite a statement.  Sold in the Anne Klein Corner at Saks Fifth Avenue for $85 (about $524 in today's dollar.)

Mondrian as Inspiration

Dear Readers: Your blog hostess is in need of a break. This week, I will be republishing random posts from the last 5 years. As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome. Thank you for being here!

Piet Mondrian: "Kompozicija" 1921

Quick, who designed this dress?

You said Yves St. Laurent, didn't you? Sorry, wrong. This is actually a linen top and skirt by Jr. Sophisticates. The ad appeared in Vogue magazine in April of 1961. 1961?????? But St. Laurent didn't debut his own label until January of 1962!

That's right, my friends. Using Mondrian as an inspiration for fashion was not the original idea of Yves St. Laurent. So, who was the designer at Jr. Sophisticates in 1961? Anne Klein, that's who. She designed an entire group of one and two piece dresses based upon the paintings of Mondrian a full 4 years before St. Laurent's versions made such a splash in Paris.

There is a major difference, though. Klein's top above looks rather blocky and square, rather shapeless. Take a look at the two St. Laurent versions below, from his Fall/Winter 1965/66 collection.

See how the dress curves in gently at the sides to define the waist?

See how there is subtle shaping at the bust? There are no darts, but the dress curves gently over this area.

You can see it better in this photo of the first dress from the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Instead of piecing flat blocks of fabric and covering the seams with black binding, as it appears was done by Klein, St. Laurent has cut the blocks of color and black strips separately. But the pieces are not squares and rectangles. They actually have odd angles at the edges. The shaping of the garment that would normally be achieved with darts is all cleverly hidden in the seams where one piece joins another. And when those oddly shaped pieces are joined together, they appear as a flat grid as in Mondrian's painting.

That, my friends, is couture.

For more Mondrian inspired fashion, take a look at this site, which was put together several years ago by Snap Dragon. Even Nike has produced Mondrian inspired shoes, shown here.

UPDATE:  Welmoeds posted a comment in which she shared her blog post about designing a copy of the YSL dress for herself.  She drafted the pattern and you can see that on her blog here.  And you can see the fantastic results here.  Fabulous job and thank you for sharing Welmoeds!

My Alter Ego - 1984

In 1984, I was a young stay-at-home mom with two children under the age of 6. My standard outfit was jeans, an oversize t-shirt, and sneakers. But, when perusing fashion magazines, this was the woman I longed to be. This was my alter ego. Powerful, in charge, important, and dressed in beautiful clothes. That's not to say I wasn't important and in charge, but at that time, I often felt like my life was out of control. Who wouldn't with preschoolers underfoot and a household to run? And dressing like she did? Out of the question.

A few short years later, I had started my own business, and this was how I dressed when I traveled to trade shows in New York (I substituted spike heels for the boots and didn't carry a polo mallet). My true self had emerged. Personal style is a huge part of who we are, and dressing in a look that expresses that style gives us natural self confidence.

Who is your fashion alter ego? Have you ever found an image in a fashion magazine and grown into the style as I did? I'd love to hear your story.

Shown above: Navy gabardine blouse and fawn twill skirt by Donna Karan and Louis Dell 'Olio for Anne Klein.

Big Shoulders - 1984

First, thank you all for your kind comments about last week's series on moving like a lady. The response was overwhelming, with many requests for more. I am actively searching for more information like this for you, and promise to bring it to you in the future.

Moving on, I finally broke down and purchased some vintage magazines from the 1980's. This decade has been influencing current fashion for the past couple of seasons, and it is time to admit that clothing from the 80's is now considered vintage.

Several designers showed exaggerated shoulder lines for Fall 2009. Above, two looks from Louis Vuitton. You think those shoulders are new? Take a look at how we did it in the spring of 1984.

Complice

Emanuel Ungaro Parallele

Norma Kamali

Donna Karan & Louis Dell'Olio for Anne Klein

Mondrian as Inspiration

Piet Mondrian: "Kompozicija" 1921

Quick, who designed this dress?

You said Yves St. Laurent, didn't you? Sorry, wrong. This is actually a linen top and skirt by Jr. Sophisticates. The ad appeared in Vogue magazine in April of 1961. 1961?????? But St. Laurent didn't debut his own label until January of 1962!

That's right, my friends. Using Mondrian as an inspiration for fashion was not the original idea of Yves St. Laurent. So, who was the designer at Jr. Sophisticates in 1961? Anne Klein, that's who. She designed an entire group of one and two piece dresses based upon the paintings of Mondrian a full 4 years before St. Laurent's versions made such a splash in Paris.

There is a major difference, though. Klein's top above looks rather blocky and square, rather shapeless. Take a look at the two St. Laurent versions below, from his Fall/Winter 1965/66 collection.

See how the dress curves in gently at the sides to define the waist?

See how there is subtle shaping at the bust? There are no darts, but the dress curves gently over this area.

You can see it better in this photo of the first dress from the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Instead of piecing flat blocks of fabric and covering the seams with black binding, as it appears was done by Klein, St. Laurent has cut the blocks of color and black strips separately. But the pieces are not squares and rectangles. They actually have odd angles at the edges. The shaping of the garment that would normally be achieved with darts is all cleverly hidden in the seams where one piece joins another. And when those oddly shaped pieces are joined together, they appear as a flat grid as in Mondrian's painting.

That, my friends, is couture.

For more Mondrian inspired fashion, take a look at this site, which was put together several years ago by Snap Dragon. Even Nike has produced Mondrian inspired shoes, shown here.

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